TSM Version I

Simulation

Simulations are powerful tools for scientists whenever they try to understand and predict complex matters. The Thunderstorm Simulation Machine V.1 uses the geometric model of an imaginary mountain landscape to place a completely computer generated aural thunderstorm in it, triggered by realtime data of actual thunder storms, captured from a network of meterological oberservation stations around the globe.

Machine

In The Thunderstorm Simulation Machine V.1 the computer models for the analysis of the data and the creation of the sounds derived from them are intentionlly not very complex. They don't need clusters of super-computers. The resulting sonic events reflect that rough approach. At times they are convincing and almost hyper realistic, at times they are obviously synthetic.

The installation plays with that experience.

At a first glance the uninformed visitor might perceive the sound as a filed-recording of a real thunderstorm, distributed nicely over numerous speakers. However, after a short while it becomes obvious that nothing is as it seems, that whilst the overall impression is convincing, the noises radiating from individual speakers are telling a very different story:

The acoustic image of the thunderstorm falls apart into sonic pixels that make no sense anymore when getting too close to them. The simulation does not stand a scrutinising inspection.

The Thunderstorm Simulation Machine V.1 raises questions, about what we perceive as real, how much we believe in models and the predictability of our world. By operating with the sublimal qualites of sound, the installation strongly provokes emotion; a sense of tension, a sense of instability. But it also is capable of creating soothing reminiscences of soft and warm rain, and all associations connected to it.

Thunderstorm

Since the installation is driven by actual meteorologic data, it behaves intentionally unpredictable and it has no fixed duration. There is no tape loop, there is only the present and the past, feeding a self-oscillating system. Little changes in the input data can have little impact or initiate big changes of the soundscape. This property of complex systems is known as the 'butterfly effect' - in theory the movement of a single butterfly on one side of the planet can create a hurricane on the other side. The discovery of those effects and their underlying mathematical principles belong to the foundations on which current models for the simulation the global climatic change operate on.

The Thunderstorm Simulation Machine V.1 consists of a variable number of loudspeakers, hanging irregularly spaced from a metal grid which itself is suspended from the celling, above the heads of the visitors. Visitors can explore the installation in various ways, change position, go close to a source or experience the sound from the distance. The technical aspects of the installation are not hidden; the computers, the cables, audio interfaces, network connections, and routers and are part of it, they are also mounted on the grid on the celling.

Data

A video projector located at the center of the grid displays an endless stream of numbers on the floor, a flicker of constantly changing green digits, showing the internal state of the system without any explanation; we can see that data but we are far from understanding it, incomprehensive messages degraded to illumination.

The room is dark, the only sources of light is the projection on the floor, and the LEDs on the speakers, routers, and computers on the celling.

History

The Thunderstorm Simulation Machine V.1 is combining and re-contextualizing ideas I already explored in previous works.

The simulation of semi-naturalistic sounds is a central topic of interest for me, starting 1997 with the exploration of swarms of insects, which can be heard on the two albums Gobi and Floating.Point. I started experimenting with artificial thunder sounds in 2004, the first convincing result became the piece Studies for Thunder. From that work I derived a multichannel concert version that got more and more refined over the years.

The unpredictable input to the system in form of real thunder storm data is generally similar to the input random visitors create on any kind of interactive media. The experiences I collected from my installations Linear Grid and Cyclone are building the foundation for the technical realization of such a concept.

Technical Details

The Thunderstorm Simulation Machine V.1 is a variable sized multimedia installation for 16 - 24 loudspeakers, a number of computers, a video projector, soundcards and network routers, all suspended on a metal grid hanging from the celling.

The Thunderstorm Simulation Machine V.1 is currently under development. This page will be updated when more detailed informations (renderings, sound examples ) becomes available.